


another name for love

by LiveLaughLovex



Series: to love (and to be loved) [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 15:45:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17164766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: "To her, the name of father was another name for love." - Fanny FernDavid Kalakaua was killed in the summer of 1989. He had four young children at the time of his death, including his second-born daughter, Kono. Luckily for his wife, Victoria, and all four of his children, he was gifted with a partner named Patrick Callahan, a man willing to take on David's family as his own. This is the story of the many ways in which his influence impacted - and even changed - Kono's life over the years.





	another name for love

**Author's Note:**

> I want you all to be as attached to David as I am, so have nine thousand words of his tragic story and his kids' childhood without him. I apologize in advance.

**May 1983**

“Uncle Patrick?” Andrea Kalakaua began innocently, glancing up from her coloring book to stare expectantly up at her father’s partner. “Where do babies come from?”

Detective Patrick Callahan nearly choked on the sip of water he’d just taken. It took several seconds for him to stop coughing long enough to regain his breath. “What do you mean?” he asked the little girl weakly.

“Mommy’s having a baby,” Andrea reminded him, as if he’d somehow forgotten. As if they weren’t sitting in King’s Medical Center at that exact moment, waiting for that baby to be born. “I’m going to get a new baby sister.”

“Yes,” Patrick agreed slowly, praying the new kid came out a girl. He didn’t want to deal with the toddler’s wrath if, heaven forbid, she ended up with another brother. “You are.”

“But how’d the baby get there?” Andrea asked curiously.

Yeah, that was the question he’d been hoping she wasn’t _actually_ asking. Of all the times for David not to be around to deal with his kid’s never-ending questions…

“She just did,” he answered vaguely. She was _three_ , all right? He wasn’t going to explain anatomy or reproduction to her. That kind of scarring information was meant to be shared by David and Victoria when the kid was ten and started taking notice of boys, not by him in the waiting room of a maternity ward while her sibling was being born just down the hallway.

“But _how_?” Andrea asked again, this time much more insistently.

Patrick cleared his throat. “Well, uh, when your parents decided they wanted another baby, she just… she appeared in your mom’s stomach, and she had to stay in there for a while to grow. Now, it’s time for her to come out.”

Not technically a lie, but far enough from the truth that he wouldn’t have to rush her to the psychiatric ward before she was a big sister. It was good enough for him.

“Oh.” Andrea shrugged. “Okay.” She then went back to her coloring, once again uninterested in the whole process, and Patrick mentally patted himself on the back for dodging that bullet, even if just slightly.

“All right.” He exhaled slowly, then stood from his seat and fished his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. “We’ve been sitting here for a while, you two. How about we go grab a snack from the vending machines, hold us over ’til it’s time for dinner?”

Seth Kalakaua glanced up from the comic book in his lap, his dark eyes wide and full of concern. “But what if the baby comes? Dad won’t know where to find us.”

“We’ll use the ones on this floor, buddy. He’ll find us,” Patrick assured the boy. “And if he can’t, they’ll page us. You’re not going to miss out on anything, okay? Promise.” He hefted Andrea from her seat, perching her carefully on his hip. “Now, c’mon. Let’s go see if we can scrounge up some cookies and chips, yeah?”

Seth nodded uncertainly, still seeming slightly worried by the prospect that his father might not find them, and walked in front of Patrick and his sister, making a beeline for the vending machines at the end of the hallway and quickly selecting a bag of chips and a soda.

“I want cookies, Uncle Patrick,” Andrea informed him seriously.

He bit back a chuckle, knowing this probably was a true life-and-death situation in the eyes of the little girl. “Okay. Chocolate chip?”

Andrea nodded enthusiastically. “And a soda,” she requested sweetly.

Patrick picked out what she’d requested, muttering, “Your mama’s going to kill me,” under his breath as he did, then grabbed a package of nuts and a bottle of water for himself. At least one of them needed to not be in a diabetic coma when the baby finally chose to make its way into the world.

They’d been back in their seats for less than ten minutes when David made his way down the hallway and out to the waiting room, looking both exhausted and exhilarated as he came to a stop in front of them. “Healthy baby girl,” he reported, grinning at Andrea when she squealed loudly and clapped her hands together excitedly. “Ten fingers, ten toes, two working lungs.”

“Congratulations, man,” Patrick said genuinely, grinning from ear to ear at the undiluted joy in his best friend’s eyes. “What’s her name? You and Victoria agree on one yet?”

“We’re naming her after Victoria’s godfather,” David explained. “And my grandmother. So, she’s Kono Mahina Kalakaua.” He nodded back the way he’d come. “C’mon,” he invited. “I want you to meet her.” He lifted Andrea from her seat. “You two, too,” he said. “Your mom is missing you. She wants all her babies together.”

“I’m not a baby,” Andrea protested insistently, crossing her arms with just about the cutest little pout Patrick had ever seen. “I’m a big girl.”

“I know you are, kiddo,” David promised. “But you are always going to be your mama’s baby. That’s just how mamas work.”

Andrea considered her father’s words for a moment. “Oh. I guess I can be a baby, then. But only Mama’s.”

“I think she’ll be okay with that agreement,” David assured his daughter, pushing open the door to his wife’s room and carefully setting Andrea’s feet on the ground. He pressed a hand to Seth’s back when the boy seemed a bit nervous. “Go on, buddy,” he urged. “Go meet your little sister.”

Victoria was glowing as she glanced up from her newest child’s face to meet Patrick’s eyes. “You should come closer, too,” she said to Patrick. “Come meet your goddaughter.”

Patrick glanced back and forth between his friends curiously. “Goddaughter?” he repeated.

“We’ve been meaning to ask you,” David informed him apologetically, “but the baby came a little earlier than we were expecting her, and it distracted us. It’d mean a lot to us if you’d be her godfather, though. That hasn’t changed,” he added, clapping his partner on the shoulder.

Patrick rubbed a hand down the back of his neck. “I don’t know, man,” he hedged nervously. “I mean, I don’t have kids. I don’t even have a _wife_. You really think I’m the best choice to take something like this on? This is your _kid_. Your little _girl_.”

“Your nervousness makes it clear we made the right decision,” Victoria commented from the bed.

David nodded in agreement. “And you’ve done pretty great with the other two,” he added, nodding to Andrea and Seth. “Look, it’s your choice, man,” he assured his friend. “But we didn’t even consider anyone else when we were talking about it. We know you’re the best choice to watch out for our kid – for _all_ of our kids. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do this.”

And, well, it wasn’t as if Patrick could exactly deny the request after hearing _that_. He didn’t really want to, anyway. Not anymore.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Yeah. Thanks for, uh…” He trailed off, scratching his ear nervously. “Thanks,” he finally settled on. “I won’t let you down, man. Either of you,” he added. “I’ll keep them all safe.”

Victoria practically beamed up at him. “We know you will. Now, on to the most important question of all. Would you like to hold your new goddaughter?”

Patrick hesitated for several seconds before finally asking, “How breakable is she, exactly?” in the most serious voice imaginable.

Victoria smirked amusedly at the question. “As long as you don’t throw her on the ground or toss her out the window, you’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Just support her head and neck.”

“Right,” Patrick murmured, carefully accepting the little girl from his partner’s arms. “Seems easy enough.”

“It is,” David assured him. “And it’ll get even easier the next time around.”

Patrick nodded, glancing down into the face of the sleeping infant. She chose that moment to blink her dark eyes open and stare up at him curiously, her eyes already full of so much trust.

“See?” Victoria murmured, pulling Andrea closer to her side when the little girl crawled up onto the bed. “She’s perfectly content. You’re already a natural.”

Patrick chuckled quietly. “Not sure about that,” he replied softly, tucking the blanket closer around her chin. “She’s just too tired to scream her head off, maybe.”

“No,” Victoria disagreed, smiling kindly up at him. “You’re a natural, just like we knew you would be.”

“Maybe.” Patrick stared down at the little girl. “Hi, Kono,” he murmured after a moment. “I’m your Uncle Patrick.”

 

-o-

**September 1983**

“So,” David drawled, leaning against the side of his house with his four-month-old daughter propped against his shoulder, sleeping peacefully after thirty minutes spent in the Pacific. “I don’t want to take it personally, man, but I’m starting to take it personally.”

“What are you starting to take personally?” Patrick questioned curiously, finishing the last of the lemonade Victoria had poured for him when he’d first arrived and setting the empty glass on a nearby table.

“Molly Cassidy. The pretty prosecutor you don’t shut up about,” David clarified. “Why haven’t you brought her around to meet us yet? Victoria’s been dying to tell her all sorts of embarrassing stories about you. She’s got them memorized at this point, man.”

“You’ve met her already,” Patrick pointed out.

“Yeah, as a cop,” David agreed. “But you yourself said that Victoria, me, and the kids are the closest thing you’ve got to an actual family on this island. You need to bring the girl home to meet the family, brah.”

“So that your wife can tell her embarrassing stories about me?” Patrick clarified.

“Yes,” David confirmed. “It’s family tradition, my friend. There’s no escaping it.”

It turned out there really wasn’t, because Victoria began inviting Patrick and Molly over for dinner at least once a week after that. A month later, Patrick finally accepting, figuring all he was doing was delaying the inevitable. He accepted without asking Molly, hoping to help her avoid the whole thing. It turned out, however, that she didn’t really want to avoid it at all. If anything, she was more excited about it than Victoria was.

“They’re your family,” she said simply. “You love those kids like your own. I don’t have any problem having a meal with them, Patrick. In fact, I’m honored they invited me. I know how overprotective cops can be when it comes to their kids.” She smiled teasingly. “It seems they trust your taste in women.”

“Well, that, and you’re a prosecutor,” Patrick reminded her.

“It does tend to make people more willing to trust me with small humans,” she agreed. “Now. When is this dinner?”

Victoria scheduled everything for that Friday. As it turned out, there’d been no reason at all for him to worry about any of it. The kids took to Molly without any hesitation, even his tiny goddaughter, who passed out in the red-haired woman’s arms within the first few minutes of meeting her. It was nice, being surrounded by all the people he cared for most in the world. It really did feel like the family it was quickly becoming.

David pulled him aside at the end of the evening, flashing a knowing grin. “You know, Kono will probably be walking in a year or so.”

“Okay?” Patrick replied, though it came out sounding more like a question.

“I’m just saying. You want her for a flower girl, you’ll have to wait at least that long. Think you can manage it?” David smirked. “Don’t even try to deny it, my friend. You’ve got it bad. It’s a little pathetic, honestly.”

Patrick decided not to mention the ring he’d been hiding in his dresser for the past two weeks. There was no need for his friend to know exactly how spot-on he was. “Okay.”

“Great. Just remember – a year.” David was still laughing as he walked away.

“Won’t be a problem,” Patrick promised.

 

-o-

 

**August 1984**

“Six months,” David muttered from his place next to Patrick at the altar. “You lasted six months.”

“We waited to have the wedding,” Patrick protested under his breath. “Kono’s walking, isn’t she?”

“Oh, yeah,” David confirmed laughingly. “It’s to the point now that she’s definitely going to make us chase her at some point.”

“Your wife’s got Andrea and Seth trained to help out,” Patrick pointed out. “It’ll be fine.”

It was, if only because Kono dashed directly for her father and was held throughout the ceremony. Molly giggled at the little girl when she came to stand before Patrick, a vision in white lace and tulle, and he honestly didn’t think he could possibly be any luckier in life.

His goddaughter clapped when they kissed, causing the entire audience to laugh loudly. She further delighted everyone at the reception, dancing along to the music as best she could – which, considering she’d only just figured out the whole walking thing, meant she fell more often than she stayed upright. It was still just about the cutest thing Patrick had ever seen, though.

“I’m happy for you, man,” David told him genuinely, settling into the chair across from him while Molly was dancing with her father. Kono was in his arms, half-asleep with her head on his shoulder. “Not to get all mushy on you or anything, but you’re just about the best friend I have ever had, and it’s good to see you so happy. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”

“Pretty sure you wanted to shoot me at one point,” Patrick reminded him.

“For a week,” David agreed. “But it was a short week. We had a day off.” He chuckled when Patrick simply shook his head. “No, but really. You deserve to have this, Pat. I mean it.”

“Thanks,” Patrick replied, clearing his throat. “That means a lot, coming from you.”

“Of course, man. You’re like a brother to me, closest thing I’ve ever had to one. And Molly’s the best thing to ever happen to you. I mean, she’s way out of your league, but she’s still…”

“Ah.” Patrick smiled wryly. “There you are. Glad to know you haven’t been replaced by a pod person.”

“Hey, it was either going to be me or Victoria, and she would’ve been way meaner. You know she would’ve.” David grinned. “Also, she would’ve snuck in some comment about giving your goddaughter a best friend…”

“That’s not happening for at least a few years,” Patrick insisted.

“That’s what you said about this,” David pointed out.

“Maybe it is, but still. No kids for at least a few years.”

“All right,” David accepted easily. “When you inevitably go back on that, can I remind you of this conversation?”

“Sure,” Patrick agreed. “But you won’t need to.”

David simply smirked. “Sure I won’t.”

 

-o-

 

**July 1985**

Sutton Claire Callahan was born on the Fourth of July, three minutes after one o’clock in the morning. She weighed six pounds, four ounces, measured eighteen inches long, and was an exact replica of her mother with her father’s bright blue eyes. She was absolutely perfect, the best thing that’d ever happened to either of her parents. It was still a bit surreal, the fact that she was theirs, and Patrick wondered if that was the sort of thing anyone ever really got over.

David and the rest of the family came to visit the morning she was born. Two-year-old Kono dashed into the room, carrying a stuffed puppy and a drawing she’d made herself with her. It was rather adorable, the way she waited at Molly’s bedside, holding both items up proudly.

“Oh, thank you, sweetheart,” Molly said, gesturing with the arm not holding their daughter for Patrick to lift his goddaughter onto the bed for a closer peek at the baby. “I’m sure she’ll like them very much.”

“Baby,” Kono replied, pointing to the newborn in her honorary aunt’s arms.

“Yes,” Molly murmured. “This is Sutton. Sutton, this is Kono. I think you’ll be very good friends.”

Patrick and David stood back while their wives and David’s children oohed over the new baby. “They’re going to be nightmares when they’re teenagers, you know,” David informed him resignedly.

“Oh, yeah,” Patrick agreed immediately. “With Victoria’s genes and Molly’s? They’re going to be nightmares. We’ll probably be in hell.” He glanced over at his best friend, smiling. “It’s going to be worth it, though.”

“Yes,” David replied surely. “It is.”

Patrick cleared his throat. “Maybe it’s a little cliched to ask this question in a hospital room, but, uh, Molly and I, we’d really like you to be her godfather.”

David stared at him for a moment. “I don’t have to pretend not to be sure about it like you did, do I?” he asked seriously.

“I wasn’t pretending,” Patrick protested. “But no. You don’t.”

“Just checking.” David grinned, clapping him on the shoulder. “Of course I will, man. I’d be honored.”

“Thanks.” They both turned back to the scene before them. “But seriously, I’m going to need you when her teenage years come around.” 

“Yup.”

“Maybe we should just go ahead and buy stock in bullets,” Patrick suggested, only half-joking.

“Oh, yeah,” David agreed immediately. “Great idea, my friend.”

 

-o-

 

**June 1989**

“You look tired,” Patrick commented, half-amused and half-concerned. “Hannah still not sleeping through the night?”

David shook his head. “It’s our own fault,” he muttered miserably. “Gave her a name that means tranquil, and she’s anything but.”

“To be fair, I don’t think anyone who has teeth trying to force their way through their gums is going to be tranquil, regardless of what their middle name is.” Patrick turned the key in the ignition and carefully pulled from the parking spot. “Don’t worry, buddy,” he said with false cheer. “We’ll spend the next twelve hours chasing down addicts. It’ll be good for you.”

“Think the addicts might go easier on me than the kid does,” David replied, his words muffled by his hand as he attempted to stifle a yawn. “I need coffee soon,” he said after a moment. “Biggest cup imaginable.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Patrick promised, stifling a chuckle. He’d been there himself with Sutton several years before, and with Rhys just months earlier. Laughing about it wasn’t really nice.

They managed to hunt down the mug of coffee David had been so desperate for. He downed it just in time for them to chase down their first collar of the day. Just seconds after they had dropped the guy off at the precinct for processing, a call for help came over the radio.

“That’s Kekoa and Graham,” David commented urgently. “And they’re only two blocks up the road. Let’s see what’s going on.”

Patrick agreed immediately, putting the car in Drive and getting to their fellow officers’ location as quickly as was humanly possible.

It didn’t take long to figure out the situation the other men had gotten themselves into. It was one they’d all seen on the job at some point or another. A well-known local drug dealer had made the brilliant decision to hole up in an empty apartment. When the officers had arrived to remove him from the premises at the request of the super, he’d pulled a gun and fired it several times, catching Graham in the shoulder twice and leading to the urgent call for help. Thankfully, it was easy to decelerate and defuse. Kekoa was hauling the guy away in cuffs less than ten minutes after they’d arrived.

The shots came out of nowhere, echoing all around them. Patrick glanced around frantically, not seeing any signs of his partner. David had been in a nearby alleyway, ready to force his way into the building if absolutely necessary. It was from that same alleyway that the sound of shots had seemed to originate. With that realization, both Patrick’s heart and his stomach dropped directly to his feet.

“Kekoa!” he yelled over his shoulder, sprinting around the corner and nearly falling to his knees at the sight of his partner there, on the concrete, a pool of blood gathering beneath him. He glanced up just in time to see Thomas Palakiko, a former cop and his best friend’s previous partner, running as quickly as possible in the opposite direction.

Kekoa muttered a string of expletives as he arrived at Patrick’s side. “Where’d he go?” he growled, searching the area quickly for the perpetrator.

“That way,” Patrick said, nodding down the alleyway. “Kekoa!” he called after his friend, waiting until the other man turned around before speaking again. “It’s Palakiko.”

Kekoa nodded grimly, his eyes full of the most intense hatred Patrick had ever seen from the man, then continued in the direction their former coworker had headed. Graham rounded the corner a moment later, hand pressed to his bleeding shoulder. His eyes widened as soon as he saw what’d happened.

“Dave,” the younger officer muttered. “We got an officer down,” he snapped into his radio, rattling off their current location quickly. Patrick didn’t have the heart or the patience in that moment to tell him he’d already done so the very second he saw his partner bleeding out right in front of him.

The ambulance arrived, but not in time. David was still breathing when they loaded him onto it, but he was gasping, unable to hold air for too long. Patrick scrambled to climb in beside him, assuring him as he did so that he was going to be fine.

David chuckled wetly. “I thought you mainlanders were the honest type,” he quipped, his voice no louder than a whisper. “It’s why I picked you to be Kono’s godfather. You’re good and honest, Pat. Have been since the day I met you. Teach her to be the same way, yeah?”

“I won’t have to,” Patrick muttered. “Because you’re not dying today, David. You’ve got that little boy and those three beautiful little girls at home. They need their dad. They don’t need just me, you hear? They need you, too. They need you more. Come on, man. Don’t leave them. Don’t leave Toria. Don’t leave _me_.”

David’s eyes filled with tears as he stared up at him. “I wouldn’t,” he promised brokenly. “If I could stay, I would. I need you to tell them that, all right? Tell them I wanted to stay. Tell them I would’ve given _anything_ to stay. And you tell them I loved them, all right? More than anything. And you – you make sure they’re still going to believe in people after this, all right? Don’t let Palakiko ruin everything. Don’t give him that power.”

“David,” Patrick muttered, his hand against his friend’s shoulder. The paramedic was as helpless and hopeless as his partner; he’d long since stepped away from the two of them. “I don’t know how to be what they need without you, man.”

“You’re going to have to figure it out, brah,” David breathed. “Because I…” He coughed weakly. “I can only do so much for them up there. I’m trusting them with you. Don’t let me down. Don’t let _them_ down.”

After uttering those words, David Kalakaua drew in one final, shallow breath. It ended up being his last.

Patrick didn’t know what it was like to have his heart ripped from his chest, but what he felt in that moment likely came pretty close.

 

-o-

**June 14, 1989**

Everyone around her was being quiet, which was a rarity for Kono. She knew why. They were there to say goodbye to her daddy, not to talk. Still, though, she wished they would. Mommy hadn’t said much of anything since Uncle Patrick came to tell her, and Kono had had enough of the silence.

The priest was the only one speaking, but she was pretty sure he didn’t know what he was saying. He was saying words like honor, duty, and patriotism, and talking about the medals hidden away in her father’s desk. He wasn’t talking about the things that’d really mattered to her daddy, like baseball and football and the ocean and weekly family picnics on the beach. Kono didn’t think the man had really known her daddy at all.

Aunt Molly was sitting between Kono and her mommy, holding Sutton in her lap. Andrea was on Kono’s other side. Seth and Uncle Patrick were further down the aisle. Seth wasn’t crying anymore. He hadn’t, not since Grandpa had told him the other day that he would be the man of the house now.

Everyone started standing up a few minutes later. Kono didn’t, though. She stayed right where she was. She didn’t want to leave. When they left, they were going to have to say goodbye to her daddy forever, and she wasn’t ready for that.

“Kono, sweetheart,” someone murmured. She glanced up to see Aunt Molly’s kind eyes. “We need to go now.”

“I don’t want to,” Kono mumbled, staring down at the floor. “I want to stay here.”

“I know you do, honey.” Molly smiled sympathetically, blue eyes glistening. “But we have to go. We have to be there for your mommy. You don’t want her to have to say goodbye all by herself, do you?”

Kono shook her head, her bottom lip trembling.

“Yeah.” Aunt Molly cleared her throat. “Patrick, come here.”

Uncle Patrick appeared a few moments later, dressed in the same uniform she’d seen her daddy in all the time. “C’mon, kiddo,” he murmured, picking her up with the same ease he had when she was much smaller. “We’ll go together, okay?”

“Okay,” Kono mumbled, head against his shoulder. “Uncle Patrick?” she asked after a few seconds.

“Yeah, kiddo?” he replied, walking for the door.

“Is it okay that I’m sad?”

Uncle Patrick paused for a brief second, then continued. “Why wouldn’t it be okay, kiddo?”

“Grandma says Daddy’s happy now,” Kono explained. “But I’m sad. Would Daddy be mad because I’m sad?”

“No,” Uncle Patrick assured her. “No, kiddo. Your daddy’s not mad at you, okay? Promise.”

Everyone in the cemetery was quiet, too. Sutton held her hand the whole time, not moving from next to her even once. Mommy cried. She stayed with Uncle Patrick and Aunt Molly. They didn’t make her watch the flag being folded. Molly hugged her close, shielding her as best she could from what was happening.

Mommy didn’t even notice Kono wasn’t there in the first row of seats with her, and Uncle Patrick had to take Kono’s baby sister from her mom’s arms to keep Hannah from accidently being dropped. Her mommy was in shock. That was what everyone kept saying. Kono didn’t know what shock was, but she thought they might all be in it.

Everyone came over for food after they left. The adults kept trying to talk to Kono, but she tried her best to avoid them. She didn’t really like adults outside of her family, because she didn’t understand them. They asked how she was for no reason, because they didn’t actually care. If she told the truth, they looked sort of mad. She didn’t want anyone to be mad.

Her daddy had never been mad when she talked. Daddy hadn’t been like most adults, though.

She sat on the back porch for a long time, on the bottom step, picking at a blade of grass. She didn’t want to go back inside. It was sad inside. She was plenty sad all by herself.

Uncle Patrick came out after a few minutes. “Hey, kiddo,” he greeted softly, sinking onto the step next to her. “You’re missing out on the cookies. I think I spotted some brownies, too.”

“I’m not hungry,” Kono replied quietly.

“Okay,” Patrick murmured, sitting in silence next to her.

“It’s not fair,” she mumbled, sniffling as she stared down at her shiny black shoes. Mommy had bought them for the funeral, so she hated them. “All the comics say the good guys aren’t supposed to die, Uncle Patrick. Daddy was a good guy.”

“You’re right,” Uncle Patrick agreed gently. “The good guys aren’t supposed to die. I really, really wish the comic books had been right this time, but they weren’t. It’s okay to be upset about that. It’s okay to be mad. Sometimes, people die when they shouldn’t have to, and it’s not fair. Not even a little bit. But it happens anyway.”

“Heaven’s peaceful, right?” Kono asked, her lower lip trembling.

“Yes,” Uncle Patrick promised her. “Heaven’s peaceful.”

“If Heaven’s already peaceful, then why did Daddy have to go up there? Why did God take him? Does he need to protect the angels?” Kono asked, her eyes filled with tears.

“No, honey,” Uncle Patrick responded, his voice breaking on the last word. “No. The angels are protecting him. He’s safe now. There aren’t any bad men up there. Nobody’s going to hurt him. It’s not like it is here.”

“You promise?” Kono all but begged.

Uncle Patrick sniffled, then pulled her close to his side, the same as her father had done when she was littler and scared of the thunder. “Yeah, kiddo,” he muttered. “I promise.”

Uncle Patrick had never lied to her, not even when she was little. Kono didn’t even stop to think that his words might not be truthful. She just believed him.

 

-o-

**June 1998**

Kono was fifteen years old when she went to her first high school party. She snuck out of her mother’s house at eleven o’clock at night, climbing out of her bedroom window just after the other members of her family had gone to bed. Alani, one of the more rebellious members of her inner circle, was parked just down the street. Kono got into the passenger-side seat, and they were off. In hindsight, getting into that car was probably the worst decision she’d made in life, at least up to that point.

There were reasons she’d decided to attend this particular party. There was another surfing tour starting up in a few weeks, and there was next to no chance she’d actually be in Hawaii when the school year started. She wanted to do at least one thing normal teenagers did before she left. Plus, it was at the Clarke house. In her fifteen-year-old eyes, that was a plus.

Wyatt Clarke was the starting quarterback of Kukui High’s football team. He was arrogant, crude, and very attractive. He wasn’t really Kono’s type, exactly, but he was the opposite of what her mother wanted for her, which was probably what made him seem so hot. 

Alani left her just as soon as they’d made their way inside. “It’ll be fine,” her friend insisted. “Just find me when you’re ready to leave, all right?”

“Okay,” Kono replied, glancing around nervously. She knew almost no one in the room, aside from Alani and some kids she’d met in passing. She didn’t feel at all comfortable, and she was already starting to regret her decision to come. She didn’t want to seem like a baby, though, and so she smiled convincingly as Alani left.

She didn’t drink, or smoke, or do anything even more illegal for a teenage girl. She was also the niece and/or granddaughter of about two dozen members of HPD, which meant most of the people who did do those things avoided her like the plague. Wyatt didn’t. He wandered over to the couch where she was sitting and sank next to her, smiling that charming smile of his that made most other girls swoon. It didn’t make Kono swoon. It was predatory enough to make her sweat, though.

“Haven’t seen you around before,” Wyatt commented, his hand falling to her thigh without her permission. “You came in with Alani, right?”

Kono picked his hand up, placed it back in his lap, and stood. “I did,” she said coldly. “Don’t touch me again.” That was one thing she had that most teenage girls didn’t; lessons from her godfather on how to deal with a certain kind of situation.

He didn’t listen, though. When his hand landed on her ass, she didn’t say anything more. She didn’t have to. A cheerleader she’d never seen before wandered up, grabbed her by the hand, and pulled her into an empty room.

“This isn’t the first time he’s done this sort of thing,” the girl informed her in a hushed whisper. “My boyfriend and I only come to these things to keep an eye out for the girls.”

“He does this at every party?” Kono whispered back. “Why hasn’t anyone stopped him?”

“Because none of the girls report him.” The girl sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Look, my boyfriend’s out there guarding the door. He’s a linebacker; nobody’s going to get past him. Do you have somebody to call, come pick you up? If not, we can give you a lift home.”

“I have someone to call,” Kono assured her, voice and hands shaking.

“Good.” The girl unzipped her purse and fished out a cell phone. “Call them. I’ll wait with you until they come, okay?”

Kono nodded as she accepted the phone and dialed Uncle Patrick’s number as quickly as she could.

He answered halfway through the second ring. “Kiddo, it’s almost midnight. Did something happen?”

“I’m at Wyatt Clarke’s house,” she informed him, lower lip trembling. “There’s a party, and I wanted to come, so I snuck out, and I know I shouldn’t have, but now I’m in trouble, and I didn’t know who else to call…”

“Hey, kiddo, slow down,” Uncle Patrick ordered gently. “Slow down, because I can’t understand what you’re saying, and it sounds like I need to. Now, you said you’re at the Clarke house?”

“Yeah.” Kono inhaled deeply, swiping away the tears that’d started running down her cheeks. “There was a party. I wanted to do something normal, so I came. But then he…” She trailed off. “He didn’t do anything, really, but I was scared he might. I’m still scared, and the friend I came with isn’t anywhere to be found. Can you – can you come pick me up, please?”

“Of course,” Uncle Patrick replied. She could hear the sound of keys jangling on his end of the line. “Are you safe for now?”

“Yeah,” Kono assured him. “A girl and her boyfriend, they got me away from him. I’m in a different room now with her.”

“Okay. I’ll be there in ten minutes, kiddo. You stay right where you are, with the people you know you’re safe with. Don’t move, you hear me?”

“I hear you.” Kono drew in a deep breath and ended the call, handing the phone back to the girl. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” the girl replied. “My name’s Carter, by the way. Carter Hale.”

“Thanks for helping me, Carter. You and your boyfriend.”

Carter scoffed. “Don’t even worry about it. Shouldn’t thank us for being decent human beings. The fact that the guy’s done this before without anyone stepping in shows how many of those tend to show up at these parties, though. Where’s your friend?”

“She went upstairs with a guy five minutes after we got here,” Kono explained.

The other girl shook her head. “You need to get some new friends…” She trailed off.

“Kono,” Kono supplied. “Kalakaua.”

“You need to get some new friends, Kono.”

“Yeah,” Kono murmured. “I probably do.”

Patrick arrived seven minutes after she placed the call. “Kono, kiddo,” he called through the door. “You can come out now. It’s safe, I promise.”

Kono carefully pushed open the door and stepped outside, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of her godfather. “I’m sorry, Uncle Patrick,” she mumbled, staring down at her shoes.

“Don’t even worry about it, kiddo,” Uncle Patrick assured her. “Let’s just get out of here.” He glanced over her shoulder, smiling appreciatively at Carter and her boyfriend. “Thanks for watching out for her.”

“Of course,” Carter replied.

Uncle Patrick nodded once more in thanks, then guided Kono carefully through the crowd of people that’d gathered. When they reached Wyatt, his glare intensified significantly. “You’re going to want to step aside, Clarke.”

“She can stay,” Wyatt insisted drunkenly. “We were having fun, weren’t we?” He reached for Kono’s arm, laughing cruelly when she flinched away from him.

“She’s not staying anywhere with you,” Uncle Patrick informed him coldly. “You and I, on the other hand, will be spending plenty of time together.” He nodded toward two uniformed officers Kono hadn’t seen until just then. “First, though, you’ll be spending time with them.”

Wyatt began ranting and raving, his speech broken due to his inebriation. Seeing the slightest hint of fear in his gaze, Kono couldn’t help but feel a bit satisfied. Finally, it seemed, he was getting a taste of his own medicine.

“I’m sorry,” Kono murmured again, once they were both inside and buckled into their seats. “I shouldn’t have come here tonight. It was stupid, and I’m sorry.”

“It probably wasn’t the smartest decision you’ve ever made, kiddo, that much is true,” Uncle Patrick agreed with a humorless smile. “But what happened in there, what he did… that’s not your fault, all right? The guy’s a scumbag. You tell someone to leave you alone, they should leave you alone. You shouldn’t have to beg. Someone ever pulls that bullshit with you again, I want you to break their nose, and then I want you to call me so I can pummel them into the damned concrete. You understand?”

Kono nodded slowly. “My mom’s going to be mad at me, isn’t she?”

“Probably,” Uncle Patrick admitted. “At least at first. But she’ll get over it when she sees you’ve come back in one piece. You’ll be grounded, but you’ll survive. Most likely.”

“Uncle Patrick!” Kono protested laughingly. It was the first time she’d laughed since she’d left Wyatt.

“Nah, you’ll be fine. She’ll get over it.” He glanced over at her. “You okay, kiddo?”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded, surprised to realize she really was. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“It’s like I’ve always told you,” Uncle Pat returned kindly. “I’m here. Always have been, always will be. It’s never going to change, kiddo.”

 

-o-

 

**July 2000**

Kono was seventeen the first time she got into a car accident, and it honestly wasn’t her fault. Okay, so maybe it was, but she figured avoiding the wild boar that ran into the middle of the road should probably be her priority, so she’d done that, not realizing she was headed straight for a tree on the other side of the road. She’d hit it, obviously, which had resulted in her breaking both her arm and her leg. Needless to say, her brief break from the surfing tour wasn’t exactly going the way she’d wanted it to.

Her mother was on the Big Island visiting one of her aunts at the time, so she called Uncle Patrick to pick her up, figuring he was less likely to mock her for her idiocy than Seth and Andrea would be. He brought Sutton along, and they both hovered until the doctors finally declared Kono good to go.

“Mom’s going to kill me,” Kono muttered, wincing as Uncle Patrick carefully helped her from the wheelchair and into the passenger-side seat. “We just paid off that car, and I go and wreck it.”

“I think your mother’s going to be too relieved about the fact that you’re alive to really get mad about the car, kiddo,” Uncle Patrick informed her, circling the vehicle to slide behind the wheel. “That was a pretty nasty wreck. It’s a miracle you weren’t hurt worse.”

“That’s what the doctors said.” Kono carefully shifted in her seat. “Thanks for coming to get me, Uncle Patrick. Sorry you had to miss Rhys’s game for it.”

“It got cancelled anyway,” Sutton supplied helpfully from the backseat. “One of the coaches’ wives had their baby this morning. And also, Rhys is at the age where he hates it when we’re there.”

“Twelve-year-olds don’t like their parents and their big sisters, Sutton,” Uncle Patrick said, his tone suggesting it wasn’t the first time he’d spoken those exact words. “He’ll grow out of it soon enough.”

“Maybe,” Sutton replied noncommittally. Kono had to stifle her laughter. The other girl was only two years younger than her, but the levels of sass she emitted were unheard of.

Uncle Patrick helped her inside when they arrived at her house, made sure she was settled and dosed up on pain medication, and promised to sit downstairs until her mother’s flight landed. Sutton stayed with him, watching some sort of daytime drama Kono knew nothing about.

“I’m sorry I keep worrying everybody,” Kono murmured halfway through the episode.

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo. You’re at an age where it’s expected. That’s not giving you permission to jump out of an airplane or off the top of a building with a bungee cord attached to you or anything stupid like that,” Uncle Patrick rushed to add, “but getting into trouble at parties and wrapping your car around trees? In some families, those are considered rites of passage.” He patted her on her uninjured shoulder. “You’re doing fine, kiddo.”

“Mom might not agree with that assessment,” Kono muttered bitterly.

“Moms’ worry turns into anger when they speak sometimes,” Uncle Patrick replied wisely.

“Aunt Molly’s doesn’t.”

“You haven’t heard her when Sutton falls off a bike or rides right in front of a bus, kiddo. Yes, it does.” Uncle Patrick sighed. “Look, I like to think I worry for both myself and your dad when it comes to you kids, but your mother actually _does_ have to worry for both of them, because he’s not around to help her out anymore.  Just remember that, okay? And, you know, try not to wrap yourself around trees to save hog lives any more than you have to.”

Kono laughed despite herself. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I’ll do my best.”

 

-o-

 

**September 2001**

Seth enlisted in the United States Army on September 12. On September 14, he finally got around to telling his family about it. Naturally, there were more than a few arguments. Their mother left the table in tears, and Andrea started a screaming match with him that came close to waking the entire neighborhood. Hannah hid away in her bedroom the second he spoke the words. And Kono? Well, Kono was so in shock by the news that she was the only one to stay behind at the table, sitting there with him as she attempted to process the change of plans.

“There are other ways to serve,” she tried to convince him. “You’re an engineer, Seth. You could – I don’t know what you could do, but there’s got to be something else. There’s got to be more options than _this_.” She knew she sounded desperate, but she couldn’t help it. They’d already lost so much. She didn’t know if they’d survive losing anything more.

“Maybe there are,” Seth agreed quietly. “But this is one way I know will matter.” He sighed. “It’s going to be okay, kiddo. There’s a chance – there’s a chance this won’t even turn into a war, right?”

“Three thousand people are _dead_ , Seth,” she reminded him grimly. “It’s going to turn into a war. It _should_ turn into a war. But that doesn’t mean you need to be in the middle of it.”

“I have to be in the middle of it,” Seth sighed. “I’ve got too much to lose here, too many people I need to protect. I can’t just – I don’t know how to walk away, sis. I don’t want to learn, either.”

She nodded, tried to understand, failed. Then, when all else proved useless, she went to see the Callahans.

Aunt Molly greeted her at the door with a kind smile. “Good morning, Kono. I just put on breakfast. Have you eaten yet?”

“No,” Kono murmured. “No, I haven’t.”

“Okay, then. Well, you’ll eat with us,” Aunt Molly insisted. “Now, come in. Patrick and the kids are in the living room.”

Sutton and Rhys were playing some sort of video game, completely ignorant to their surroundings as they did. Uncle Patrick glanced up from the book he was reading when she walked into the room, offering the sort of fatherly smile he always did at the sight of one of the kids he considered his own.

“Have you talked to Seth?” she asked.

“I have,” he replied. “Have _you_?”

Kono nodded. “It’ll kill my mom, Uncle Patrick,” she informed him honestly. “If he dies over there, after what happened with Daddy, it’ll _kill_ her.”

Uncle Patrick sighed, closing the book in his hands. “C’mon, kiddo,” he mumbled tiredly. “Let’s talk outside, okay?”

She nodded, following him onto the back porch and sinking onto the top step next to him.

“Your mom’s a lot stronger than you give her credit for, you know,” he began after a few seconds had passed. “She’ll be okay. Nothing’s going to happen, but if it does – she’ll be okay. You all will be.” He sighed when Kono continued shaking her head. “Your brother’s got to do this, kiddo. He’s been called upon; he can’t walk away. I think you know that.”

“I do,” Kono admitted quietly. “But what do we do if another coffin comes home draped with a flag?”

“We do what we’ve always done, kiddo,” he replied. “We survive it until we can start living again.”

 

-o-

 

**June 2003**

Three weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Sutton Callahan became a mother for the first time. The father of her child was Kukui High’s newest quarterback, and Uncle Patrick came close to killing the kid the night Sutton told them, in tears, what was coming. Those feelings didn’t change for a very long time. Not until his daughter handed him her six-pound, seven-ounce baby girl. Then, suddenly, the grandfather’s priorities changed.

They named her Leighton Molly Marshall, in honor of his mother and hers. She was perfect, a replica of her mother with her father’s blonde hair, and Kono loved her the very instant she saw her.

“She’s beautiful,” she murmured, sinking into the chair next to Sutton’s bed. “Look at her. She’s so – so little.”

“I know,” Sutton laughed. “I’m terrified I’ll break her or something.” She glanced over at Kono, flashing an exhausted but exhilarated smile. “Do you want to hold her?”

“Oh. Uh, I…” Kono bit her bottom lip. “There’s no chance she’ll _actually_ break, is there?”

 “No,” Sutton promised. “Just don’t drop her.”

“Okay,” Kono breathed, glancing over at Aunt Molly when the woman stood from her seat to help with the transfer. “She’s telling the truth, isn’t she?”

“You’ll be fine, Kono,” Molly assured her with a smirk, carefully placing the baby in her arms. “Just support her head and her neck, all right?”

“Okay,” Kono murmured, staring down at the little girl. “Hi, sweet pea,” she whispered. “I’m your Aunt Kono, and I’m very glad to meet you.”

Sutton sniffled from the bed, smiling tearfully when Kono glanced up at her. “Sorry. It’s just you’re the closest thing I’ve got to a sister, and this is – I’m emotional, okay?”

“Okay,” Kono chuckled, glancing around the room. “Where’s Marshall?”

“Getting coffee,” Sutton explained. “With my dad.” She shrugged when Kono eyed her incredulously. “C’mon, Dad’s not going to kill my kid’s father.”

“Paternity of this girl’s the only thing keeping him alive, probably,” Kono agreed.

“Yeah.” Sutton continued smiling over at the two of them for a few more moments before speaking again. “So, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Emmett and I, we’re christening her at the end of the month, and we were hoping you’d be her godmother.”

Kono stared her for a moment. “Have our parents turned this into an actual cliché?” she asked after a moment. “Saying things like that in hospital rooms, I mean?”

“I – maybe,” Sutton admitted. “We’ll discuss it more later. But, really, will you… will you be her godmother?”

“Yeah,” Kono agreed immediately. “Of course. I mean, someone’s got to make sure she has good taste in music and football teams and…” She trailed off when Sutton glared playfully at her. “No, seriously, Sutton. I’d be honored. Plus,” she added with a smile, “I will totally rock at this whole godparent thing. I learned from the best.”

 

-o-

**November 2004**

Here was the honest truth: when Kono met Steve McGarrett on that beach in South Korea, she had absolutely no plans to fall in love with him. It seemed her heart didn’t particularly care about her plans, though, because that was exactly what she did.

They didn't really see each other all that often in the aftermath of that first meeting, which was the reason Kono was able to justify not telling her godfather about the relationship they'd begun at any point over the next five months. Six weeks after they met and three after they'd said their most recent farewells, the lieutenant commander was sent to an undisclosed location. It was rare for her to hear from him, even in the form of a phone call or letter, at any point over the next few months. So, really, hiding the fact that she was indeed seeing someone from her family - Uncle Patrick and Aunt Molly included - wasn't that hard. It was overcoming the guilt that proved to be a true struggle. 

After her father's death, Uncle Patrick had become the closest thing to a father she had left in the world. She turned to him and Aunt Molly more frequently in times of crisis than she did her actual mother, because they always proved more understanding amidst the chaos. She wanted them both to meet Steve; she really did. But before that, she wanted to have the naval officer to herself for a while, no matter how selfish it seemed. For as long as she possibly could, she wanted to hide what they had away from the world. 

In the end, neither Patrick nor Molly was the first Callahan she told. Instead, it was Sutton. 

"You know you'll have to tell them eventually," the other girl told her. "Or else figure out how to keep a wedding secret from Mom and Dad." She lifted Leighton into her lap, distracted the little girl with a stuffed animal when she began fussing. "Just remember - me and Emmett survived telling them he'd gotten me pregnant at seventeen. I don't know how, but we did. At least you're over the age of majority." 

"Your grandpa tried to threaten you into going to the courthouse that afternoon," Kono reminded her friend. 

"Yeah, well, that's my grandpa," Sutton excused. "You don't have to tell _him_ , just Mom and Dad." 

Kono sighed, cradling her head in her hands. "It's not that simple."

"It really is. You're just making it more complicated 'cause you're scared," Sutton informed her bluntly. "You're terrified this guy's not like all the rest you've dated, that whatever this thing is between you's actually going to result in something that'll _last_." She shook her head when Kono turned to stare at her. "And don't even try to deny it. I have known you my whole life, Kono. You've never cared this much about any of the boys who've drawn your attention before. And you've _never_ been so scared to tell my dad about anyone before. You love him." It wasn't a question, which somehow made it all that much more irritating.

"Well, of _course_ I love him," Kono returned. "But that's - we haven't seen each other in person since California, Sutton. I don't even know where he is right now, because his location is so classified he could probably get called in for a court-martial if he even told me the food they eat there. So, yeah, I'm a little worried about this becoming real. I'm terrified, actually." 

"I'm pretty sure the classified thing you just said's probably a little exaggerated, but I get your point. Look, Kono," her friend sighed, "my dad's going to make an effort to like the guy, just because you do. And he _will_ like him, because Steve makes you happy and he respects you and he's pretty much exactly what Dad's wanted for you this entire time." Sutton smirked. "Plus, your mom and mine'll just keep trying to set you up on dates if you don't give them a reason not to. Sailor boyfriend away at sea - or war, in his case, I guess - is a pretty great reason, you've got to admit." 

"Or," Kono offered hopefully, "I could tell them I'm joining the nunnery instead." Telling Patrick and Molly was one thing. She'd forgotten she'd have to tell her mother soon, as well. 

"You know that wouldn't work. Your mom would insist on driving you herself to meet the other nuns and the priest." Sutton considered her words for a moment. "Are there priests at nunneries? Doesn't matter. My point stands, regardless." 

"Yeah," Kono sighed miserably. "She'd be all over that, wouldn't she." 

"Yup." Sutton offered her a comforting smile. "Being in love's not really this miserable thing, you know. Some would even argue it's one of the greatest things that can happen to us." 

"It's not the being in love part that's causing my hang-up," Kono murmured. "My father died a cop, and now I love a sailor. One who's probably stationed somewhere in the Middle East right now, too. My mother's not going to see any of this as a good thing."

"Kono, if she doesn't see you loving someone and being loved back as a good thing, that's not your problem. It's hers," Sutton replied gently. "And hey, if your mom acts like it's the worst thing to ever happen, you've still got _my_ mom. And she'll see this as a great thing; I know she will. And just remember what I said about my dad, okay? He'll make an effort, at the very least. You're as much his little girl as I am, you know." 

Kono did know; that was what often made things so difficult. She didn't want to let him down, not ever. But he'd practically raised her from six onwards, had been there for every single recital and graduation and surfing competition. He'd been the first person she told about just about every major life change she'd gone through in the past. He deserved to know about this one, too. 

His reaction wasn't as bad as she'd been expecting, which was a good thing, considering her mother's was horrific. There was exactly one thing Patrick asked of her in regards to Steve.

"You love him?" 

"Yes," Kono replied definitively. "I do."

"And he loves you." It wasn't a question, this time, but Kono nodded just the same. 

"He does, yeah."

"Well." He cleared his throat. "Then I'm happy for you, kiddo. You love each other, make each other happy - that's all I've ever wanted for you. For all of you. I'd like to meet him at some point..." 

"You will," Kono promised. "He's already said he wants to meet you. You're..." She trailed off with a tentative smile. "You're my dad too, you know." 

“Yeah, kiddo,” Uncle Patrick muttered roughly. “I know.”

 

-o-

 

**January 2008**

It happened in the first month of competition, which, in hindsight, she guessed was a good thing. At least a trophy hadn’t been inches away from her fingertips when she’d been told she’d never be able to compete again. Not unless she wanted to walk with a limp for the rest of her life, at least.

She spent a lot of her time in the hospital sitting in complete silence. She didn’t want to say anything to anybody. She wanted nothing more than to be alone, but it seemed that wasn’t an option. People were always around. Her mother, her siblings, Aunt Molly. Sutton was able to fly in with the baby a week or so after the accident, and Steve was granted emergency leave. There were always people around, and while she loved them, she absolutely hated it.

Steve sat at her bedside until he was kicked out, talking to her about anything and everything. They discussed the sorts of food he’d encountered during his most recent deployment, all the pranks he’d pulled on Freddie and what his best friend had done in retaliation, the fight he’d had with his sister the previous weekend and the one he’d had with his dad the week before that. They talked about everything in the world aside from her injuries and her career. It was better that way. Steve was the love of her life; she was pretty sure of that. She was even surer of the fact that, if that was a conversation they had, she’d promptly burst into noisy tears, and she didn’t want to do that to him. Not when he could go off to war again at any moment.

She didn’t discuss it with her mother, either, mostly because they ended up in the middle of a fight every time they so much as tried. Her mother didn’t understand her, not the way her dad had and her Uncle Patrick did. She wanted Kono to be safe, tucked away, protected from the rest of the world. That wasn’t who Kono was. Saying that to her mother only led to anger, so instead, she said nothing at all.

It was Patrick she spoke to in the end, if only because he was the only one who didn’t speak first. “They keep saying I’ll figure it out, Uncle Patrick,” she said softly. “That I’m young, I have my whole life to figure out what I want to do with it. I don’t think I do.”

“You do,” Patrick promised. “You’ve got your whole life to figure yourself out, Kono. They’re not lying.”

“I don’t know who I am if I’m not a surfer, though,” Kono explained. “I don’t know if I’m anybody.”

Patrick cleared his throat. “Your father used to carry around a picture of you in his wallet, you know. Showed it off to anyone who even so much as asked how his kids were doing. Nine times out of ten, they’d say some variation of _oh, she’s going to be somebody someday._ And, without fail, your dad would say _she already is somebody._ So, I think you should listen to him, kiddo. You’ve always been somebody, and you’re always going to be somebody. All you’ve got to do now is figure out who it is you want to be. And Kono? You’re a Kalakaua. I know you’ll figure it out.”

Somehow, that was enough to make the pain of the next few months – the next few years – seem worth it. Her dad had had faith in her before she was anybody. She could have faith in herself now.

 

-o-

 

**October 2009**

When Kono told her mom she was applying to the Police Academy, Victoria stopped talking to her for two weeks. Kono wasn’t surprised, really. She knew how her mother felt about the force, about having someone else she loved on the streets of Honolulu, day in and day out. It still hurt, though. Knowing her happiness mattered less to her own mother than the fear she’d maintained since the day Kono’s dad died really hurt.

She met Patrick for breakfast two days later, at the same diner she’d gone to with him and her father a thousand times as a child. He bought her pancakes and hot chocolate – another tradition dating back decades – and sat in the booth across from her, patiently waiting for an explanation.

“I told my mom I’m going to take the exam,” she informed him finally. “I’ve been thinking about it for months, and it’s what I want to do. I want to be a cop. But Mom – she’s pissed at me. Thinks I’m going to get myself killed out there, just like my father did.”

“Your mother was never going to take that news well, kiddo,” Patrick pointed out. “I love Vic to death, like my own sister, but she’s never been the best at not getting her way. You have to do what makes you happy, Kono, not what makes her happy.”

“Do you think I’ll be good at it?” Kono questioned. “Being a cop, I mean.”

“You’re your father’s daughter, kiddo,” Patrick replied. “I think you’ll be great at it.”

Kono exhaled, flashing a relieved smile. “Good, because I don’t have much of a parental support unit at the moment. When it comes to this, at least.”

“Well, you’ve got me,” Patrick assured her. “You’ve got Molly, too. You’ll always have us.”  He shook his head. “Doesn’t mean we’re not just as scared as your mom, though. That sort of thing – it just comes with the territory.”

“I can live with that,” Kono replied, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

“Good.” Patrick smiled. “So. I know what your mom had to say about it. What’d McGarrett say?”

“Oh, he’s so proud.” Kono smiled fondly. “So proud.”

“As he should be.” Patrick cleared his throat. “Your mom’ll get there, kiddo. She’ll be proud too, when the time comes.”

“I hope so,” Kono murmured. “I really do.”

Three weeks later, she took the exam and passed with flying colors. Her mother planned a party for that very weekend, and while Kono could still see the fear in the older woman’s eyes, she also saw pride. On that day, in that moment… well, it was enough.

 

-o-

 

**January 2010**

Steve proposed two days prior to Christmas, while she was in South Korea with him for the holidays. They’d been together five years, had been talking about marriage for nearly three, so it didn’t really come as much of a surprise. That didn’t mean she didn’t cry. At least the waterworks didn’t begin until after she’d said yes.

She flew home a week later, when he got sent off somewhere she couldn’t know anything about and the starting date for her own studies at the Academy drew nearer. She probably should’ve told her mother first, or one of her sisters. Instead, the first people she told were Uncle Patrick and Aunt Molly.

“I’m getting married,” she informed them the morning after her return, smiling down at her mug of coffee when Molly squealed with delight and obediently holding out her hand so that the older woman could inspect her ring. “He asked while we were in South Korea.”

“I knew he was planning to,” Patrick admitted, shrugging when both his wife and Kono turned to stare at him incredulously. “Your mother knew, too. He asked our permission.”

“Oh.” Kono smiled. Of course he’d asked their permission; that was who he was. “Well. I have something I need to ask you, too.”

“Shoot,” Patrick replied easily, taking another sip of coffee as he waited for her to speak.

“Well, I don’t have anyone to walk me down the aisle yet,” she explained nervously. “And I was hoping you’d take the job.”

Patrick cleared his throat, his eyes already glistening with tears. “I’d be honored,” he replied shakily. “Absolutely honored.”

“Good,” Kono returned, wiping away a few tears of her own. “I’m glad. Thank you.”

“I’m always here, kiddo,” he said, the way he always had when the kids thanked him for something he considered needless of thanks. “You know that.”

“Yeah. I do.”

 

-o-

 

**September 2010**

“Hey, Uncle Patrick,” Kono greeted cheerfully, stepping aside to allow him into the house. “Steve was just about the start up the grill, if you wanted to stay for dinner. We have plenty.”

“That’s okay, kiddo. Molly’s making lasagna,” Patrick informed her. “I just came by to drop off your graduation gift.” He held up a brightly colored gift bag, one she was almost positive had been chosen by either Molly or Sutton.

“Oh.” Kono smiled, accepting it. “You’ll still be there, though, won’t you?”

“Of course,” he assured her. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Good.” She removed several layers of bright tissue paper to reach the gift. As soon as she caught sight of it, the breath left her lungs for several seconds. “Is this…”

“It is,” Patrick confirmed. “I’ve been holding onto it for two decades now. Figured it was time to return it. I know he would’ve wanted you to have it.”

Kono carefully lifted her father’s badge from the bag, running her fingers along the letters and numbers. “I thought Mom had the hospital throw this out,” she murmured tearfully.

“She did,” Patrick admitted. “She asked them to, at least. But I – I saved it before they could. Figured one of you kids might follow in his footsteps one day, and then you’d want it. Looks like I was right.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, still staring down at the badge resting in her palm. “This means a lot to me.”

“I know it does,” Pat said in response, his own voice breaking slightly. He cleared his throat for the second time in as many minutes. “Means a lot to me, too.” He met her eyes with pride shining from his own. “He’d be real proud of you, kid,” he told her seriously. “I’m real proud of you.”

“Thanks, Uncle Patrick,” she breathed, hugging him briefly. “I’m real proud of me, too.”

 

-o-

 

**June 2011**

Two weekends after Steve was released from prison, he and Kono were married in the backyard of his childhood home. The naval officer, known for his stoicism, blinked back tears at the sight of his bride walked down the aisle toward him, a beaming vision of white on the arm of her godfather. Patrick’s hand and voice shook as he gave her away. He looked on with pride as the two exchanged vows, and he was the first person other than her mother to embrace her after she and Steve were declared husband and wife, murmuring to her as he did how proud her father would be of her. If she hadn’t been crying before, she definitely was then.

The reception began just before sunset, held beneath a tent on the beach. Kono was perfectly content to sit alongside her husband, her head resting comfortable on his shoulder as he told her stories that had her bursting out in laughter. To be entirely honest, she could very happily spend the rest of her days right there, where she was, living just the way she was.

Forty-five minutes in, the flower girls, clad in their adorable little dresses, came over to the table and pulled Steve away, presumably to show him something they’d discovered up the beach or attempt to wrestle one of the flower crowns Maia had been painstakingly making for the past few weeks onto his head. She watched on with amusement, glancing up with a sunny smile as her godfather sank into the seat next to her.

“I’ve got to say, kiddo, you look real happy,” he informed her.

“I am,” she assured him. “I – I didn’t know if I’d ever get to be, for a while there,” she admitted quietly, “but I am.”

“I can tell by the way you’re staring at him,” he teased her gently. “Don’t worry, kiddo; they’ll bring him back to you soon enough, I’m sure.”

“Oh, I’m not worried,” she assured him. “I’m just making sure the camera’s ready in case one of them actually manages to wrestle one of those flower crowns onto him.”

“Ah,” Patrick laughed. “Well, he really is lucky to have you for a wife then, isn’t he?”

“What, every marriage doesn’t start with blackmail?” she asked innocently, grinning at her husband when he met her eyes from across the beach. “Color me shocked.”

“I meant what I said up there, you know,” he commented after a few moments had passed in relative silence. She glanced over at him curiously. “Your dad, he’d be proud of you. He’d be proud you took the risk, that you found happiness,” he clarified. “He’d just – he’d be proud. I want you to know that, kiddo.”

“I do,” she promised. “But thanks. For telling me that, for being here. It’s – it means a lot.”

“’Course.” Patrick joined her in staring at her husband and nieces, smiling along with her when Maia was finally successful in getting a flower crown into her new uncle’s hair. “I’ve got to say, kiddo, you chose a good one.”

“Yeah,” she breathed, beaming as her husband lifted Maia into his arms and tossed her into the air, the little girl’s loud laughter reaching them across the distance. “I really, really did.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Edited June 13, 2019.


End file.
